The box-type transport container disclosed in WO 2008/137883 A1 is intended and suitable for transporting temperature-sensitive goods, especially goods which are sensitive in respect of fluctuations in the temperature in the interior. Such goods are certain pharmaceuticals, donated organs and blood products, for example, but also works of art etc. that are sensitive to fluctuations in temperature.
The known box-type transport container has a box-type outer container composed of corrugated paperboard, of corrugated plastic, possibly also of metal, or of a combination of such materials. In practice, the term corrugated plastic is sometimes used to denote plastic hollow-chamber sheets or plastic ridged sheets of thin-walled construction.
The box-type outer container has a bottom, four side walls and a cover. In the specific case, four individual covers are provided, wherein each of the individual covers is pivotally attached to one of the four side walls. However, box-type transport containers on which only a single complete cover is pivotally attached to one of the four side walls are also known.
The side walls of the known box-type outer container are of single-ply construction.
In order to maintain the temperature in the interior of the container at a uniform level for as long as possible, board-like vacuum insulation panels are situated in the outer container, being arranged so as to cover the surface of the side walls. Vacuum insulation panels are known per se and are described in the prior art, for example WO 2008/137889 A1. In particular, all the information on vacuum insulation panels is available from the additional prior art WO 2004/104498 A2.
The essential point is that there are no thermal bridges between the interior of the box-type transport container, which is used to hold the goods to be transported, and the surrounding atmosphere, that is to say basically the box-type outer container itself. It is therefore important to minimize the gaps between the vacuum insulation panels. This is accomplished, for example, by matching the box-type outer container as accurately as possible to the outside dimensions of the vacuum insulation panels arranged so as to cover the surface of the side walls.
In the case of the known box-type transport container explained above, the board-like vacuum insulation panels of the side walls are of prismatic design with smooth edges and are each arranged, circumferentially, in the box-type outer container so as to abut at one edge and to project freely at the other edge. It will be recognized that as used within the present disclosure, an “edge” may also be referred to as a “face”. It is thereby possible, in the case of a cubic outer container, to produce all the board-like vacuum insulation panels provided on the side walls with the same dimensions, that is to say to use in fact just one size of vacuum insulation panel.
From another prior art document (EP 2 221 569 A1), there is a known practice, with the same aim, of making the board-like vacuum insulation panels of the side walls prismatic but with edges mitered at 45° and arranged so as to form an abutting miter joint. Here too, the same result is obtained for a cubic outer container, namely the use of just one size of vacuum insulation panel for the entire outer container.
In general, it is also possible, within the box-type outer container, to provide latent heat storage elements in board form or in some other form which make it possible to maintain the temperature in the interior of the transport container at a uniform level over a very long time and with very widely fluctuating outside temperatures (see also WO 2008/137883 A1). For the external shape of the latent heat storage elements there are the same possibilities as for the board-like vacuum insulation panels explained above (see WO 2008/137883 A1 and EP 2 221 569 A1).
The surfaces of the vacuum insulation panels are sensitive to mechanical damage. If the external skin of a vacuum insulation panel is damaged, it immediately loses its vacuum and hence the majority of its thermal insulation properties. In the case of the known box-type transport container, the box-type outer container, which, according to a preferred embodiment, is there composed of corrugated paperboard, is therefore embodied without carrying openings.
Removal boxes made of corrugated paperboard are known per se from the prior art, and, of course, these have a carrying opening in each of at least two opposing side walls.
Finally, it is advisable to have the possibility of keeping a box-type transport container of the type in question closed in a truly reliable manner, once it has been closed.